Unlimited data is cool. You get to surf all you want, watch all the videos you want, stream all the songs you want, video chat, and more without having to worry about your data cap. You can even tether it to a laptop in a pinch should your WiFi not be working. However unsurprisingly there are some users out there who are abusing it to the max, and T-Mobile is not happy.
In a post on T-Mobile’s website by the carrier’s CEO John Legere, he basically states that they will be going after users who are openly abusing the carrier’s 4G LTE unlimited smartphone data plan. According to Legere, “This week, I am taking aim at a select group of individuals who have actually been stealing data from T-Mobile. If their activities are left unchecked their actions could eventually have a negative effect on the experience of honest T-Mobile customers. Not on my watch.”
So what constitutes as abuse? Basically these users are downloading apps and tools that hide the amount of data that they use when they tether. As Legere states, a fixed amount of data is allocated to unlimited users in when they tether for those emergency situations, but with these apps, the amount of data consumed is hidden so essentially these users can tether as much as they want, sort of like finding a loophole in the system.
Legere also makes it a point to say that this is not the same as data throttling, and has stated that some of these “thieves” have used as much as 2TB of data each. We’re not sure what exactly T-Mobile has in mind for these offenders, but they are expected to hear from the carrier very, very soon.
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